Economy
Related: About this forumSears is closing its last department store in Illinois, the retailer's home state
Sears will shut the doors on its last department store in Illinois come fall; the state in which its first retail store opened in 1925. The Sears department store in the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, a Chicago suburb, will close on November 14.
Transformco, which acquired Sears Holdings after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2018, confirmed its plans to redevelop the property. Transformco said the company is focused on growing sears.com and the Sears Home Services business.
Sears will still have a presence in Illinois. There are 11 Sears Hometown Stores in the state, operating primarily in small towns by independent dealers or franchisees of Transformco affiliates. The stores are typically between 6,000 to 8,000 square feet far smaller than Sears department stores which were each more than 100,000 square feet and sell mainly hard goods and appliances. Transformco's strategy is to operate more stores like the Hometown Sears.
There currently are 300 Sears and Kmart stores still open in the US, down from nearly 700 in October 2018, when Sears declared bankruptcy. At its peak, the company operated more than 3,000 stores. Once the nation's predominant retailer and its largest employer, Sears opened its first retail store in 1925 in Chicago and closed its last location there in 2018.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/18/business/sears-store-closing-illinois/index.html
underpants
(182,989 posts)In the outhouse pre-mass produced toilet paper days. Much better than corncobs.
bucolic_frolic
(43,443 posts)Yahoo Finance
Sears just reminded us all it's a zombie retailer
Brian Sozzi
Brian Sozzi·Anchor, Editor-at-Large
Fri, September 17, 2021, 12:55 PM·2 min read
~snip~
Nevertheless, Transformco is holding out hope that one day, eventually it will return to relevancy.
Added the spokesperson, "Transformcos go-forward store strategy for Sears and Kmart is to operate a diversified portfolio consisting of a small number of larger, premier stores with a larger number of small format stores combined with its Shop Your Way rewards program, online marketplace and buy online, pick up in store capabilities. The company will continue to expand both Hometown Stores and Home & Life stores in cities and towns that previously had larger format stores."
The spokesperson declined to say how many Sears and Kmart stores are still open.
According to map analysis, there are about 33 Sears stores and 18 Kmart stores still left open across the country.
jimfields33
(16,071 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,492 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)On December 28, 2000, after lower-than-expected sales during the Christmas season,
the company announced it would cease operating ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Ward#Bankruptcy,_restructuring,_and_liquidation
rsdsharp
(9,225 posts)The last straw was when they sent me a delinquent notice on an account that was fully paid. I went to the local store, asked for the manager, showed him the proof that I had paid, and told him to cancel my card. I never bought anything from then again.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts).
kimbutgar
(21,240 posts)When they did away with the catalog instead of going online they sealed their doom.
I just hope he didnt take the pension money away from the long time workers.
MFM008
(19,827 posts)We would always head to Sears even in the 90s,'we got our furniture, rug and stuff for the house.
A trip to Sears was often.....
Sibelius Fan
(24,397 posts)Both were manufactured in Germany, and both still run great. We have basically rebuilt both machines over the years by making needed repairs here and there. I have a local handyman who charges me $20-30 to make fixes. Parts are relatively cheap on amazon. 16 years and still running like new.